Saturday, July 29, 2017

Anthony Scaramucci's Skybridge: Fees in the Clouds

Brash Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci successfully translated Trumpish at the 2017 billionaire bash in Davos, Switzerland. Scaramucci announced the sale of Skybridge Capital, his hedge fund of funds, while at the World Economic Forum meeting. The price tag for China conglomerate HNA Group and RON Transatlantic EG dropped from a rumored $250 million to $180 million over the last six months as hedge fund withdrawals grew. Bloombergvalued the deal at $200 to $230 million.

Scaramucci received two appointments by President Donald Trump this summer. His first was to the Export-Import Bank.

Financier Anthony Scaramucci, a prominent surrogate and
fundraiser during President Donald Trump's campaign for the White House,
has joined the embattled Export-Import Bank in a top position.

Scaramucci became a senior vice president and chief strategy officer at the agency on June 19.

His second appointment elevated Scaramucci to White House Communications Director. Oddly he never occupied the Ex-Im Bank slot:

Scaramucci has been on unpaid leave from Ex-Im since the day he started
there, June 19, a bank spokeswoman said, forgoing his $172,100 salary as
chief strategy officer.

The Ex-Im job was essentially a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for Scaramucci to get to Washington. Once installed in the White House Scarmucci went to work, employing his sales skills. It turned out Scaramucci speaks Trumpish directly, as he did to the The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza.

Skybridge G II Fund's prospectus dated 1-30-2013 listed fees and expenses of over 10% per year, according to a SEC filing.

The
purpose of the table above is to assist prospective investors in
understanding the various fees and expenses Shareholders are expected to
bear directly or indirectly.

That's quite the prospectus showing fees at twice the rate of projected returns. One's investment could be sucked away over time to pay Anthony Scaramucci and his staff.

In addition Scaramucci earned $200,000 in income from a majority stake in Hastings Capital Group, the principal underwriter for Skybridge's various investment vehicles. It's a form of double dipping, making multiple fees on a transaction.

Hastings Capital Group, LLC, an affiliate of the Adviser, serves as the Company’s Principal Underwriter with authority to sell Shares directly and to appoint Placement Agents to assist the Principal Underwriter in selling Shares.The Adviser or its affiliates, including the Principal Underwriter, may pay from their own resources compensation to the Placement Agents in connection with placement of Shares or servicing of investors. Prospective investors also should be aware that these payments could create incentives on the part of the Placement Agents to more positively consider the Company relative to investment funds not making payments of this nature or making smaller such payments.

It's difficult to tell how much Scaramucci will make from the delayed sale of Skybridge Capital as a "principal of the investment advisor." It will be enough for him to dive into politics without financial worry. The Blue team's Rahm Emanuel made big money between public service stints.

Chicago is the place where Rahm's personal financial house expanded greatly
in terms of resources. As an investment banker Emanuel made $18.5
million in two and a half years. His political influence grew as a
member of Congress and President Obama's Chief of Staff.

How far might Anthony Scaramucci go in the Trump White House? Will he make it to Trump's #1 advisor once he has his core wealth locked up? Scaramucci curses like Rahm and is also hyper-competitive. Both share a potty mouth. They are but two sides of the same coin, greed and power. Politicians Red and Blue love PEU. Scaramucci is the latest appointment in Trump's D.C. swamp.

Update 7-31-17: After 10 days on the job the Trump White House dismissed Scaramucci as Communications Director.

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